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Earlier in the week there was discussion on our member chat about mezuzahs, and especially about the fact that there are purveyors of mezuzot in our neighborhood who are essentially selling fakes, i.e. mezuzot that are printed on paper rather than handwritten by a sofer on klaf  (animal skin) as the Halacha requires. Although this is profoundly disappointing and more than a little infuriating (and I am so sorry for our member to whom this recently happened), it is unfortunately not surprising. People will sell whatever there is a market for, and there is a huge market for “mezuzot” that cost much less than mezuzot do.

In exactly the same way that it our responsibility as consumers to know the reliability and honesty of the store selling us our meat or our lulav and etrog, it is our responsibility to know the reliability and honesty of our mezuzah and tefillin vendors.

Here are three that I recommend (in no particular order at all):

1) Rabbi Shimon Kraft, The Mitzvah Store, 7227 Beverly Blvd at themitzvahstore.org.

2) Ron Sieger at sofersieger.com. Though Ron has relocated from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, he comes into Los Angeles at least once a month to continue doing work here.

3) Yisrael Gabbai, Mezuzah Store, 1440 S. Robertson at mezuzahstore.com.

I recently came across the information that the OU has started a mezuzah certification program and that they have several online vendors that they have certified. You can read about it at thestamproject.org.